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Duluth man gets 25 years in sex trafficking case

MINNEAPOLIS -- A man convicted of prostituting an underage girl throughout the Upper Midwest has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Federal prosecutors showed evidence that Markeace Arque “Quake” Canty, 33, of Duluth, had advertised online the services of K.W., a former girlfriend of his who would have been about 17 at the time, and transported her to Grand Forks and other Midwestern cities, according to court records.

A federal jury in Minneapolis convicted him Sept. 12 of sex trafficking of a child and conspiring to commit sex trafficking of a child. He was sentenced Friday.

Advertisements for K.W. began appearing July 2012 on Backpage.com, which has become notorious for prostitution ads over the years. Locations listed on the ad included places in Minnesota and nearby states.

Police in various cities reported encountering Canty with K.W. and other women linked to the ads, court records say.

Besides the 25-year sentence, Canty will be on 15 years of supervised probation after release.